So, I've got a new toy. Totally not something I would have got few years ago, but there's a little background...

Long story short I now have kids including a 2 year old lad obsessed with things on wheels. He enjoys age appropriate balances bikes etc, but also loves going up and down our drive on the Aprilia fuel tank

A few weeks ago when I was nipping out on the bike for an hour, he was shouting 'me, me, me bike', desperate to come out - obviously not possible, and I felt quite tight

My Dad has said for ages I should get a sidecar or something so I could take him out with me, but many of them are on vintage bikes and I've never really seen one I've liked... One night however I was flicking through eBay and saw something that caught my eye

I totally understand it won't be to everyone's taste and c'est la vie, each to their own and all that, but for what it is I am really chuffed with it

2003 Honda FJS600 Silverwing scooter with Merlin Supersport sidecar fitted by Merlin (lovely job including change of rear suspension, handbrake, tall touring screen and backbox), low milage, really looked after - gotta admit in the flesh I like it lots more than I thought I would

Picking it up was a bit of a saga. It's so wide it wouldn't fit in a normal van, so hired what turned out to be quite a knackered box van and drove it (at it's fuel draining yet modest 60mph) all the way south of London and back... Was a long slog

Got it MOT'd yesterday and taxed this morning then showed the lad - he absolutely loved it, was brilliant

Took a bit of getting used to, they're quite a thing to ride, but after a few miles and getting used to how the extra brake helps you turn left etc I do enjoy it

Hopefully it'll mean I get a bit more time out on bikes now - obviously it's not as pure fun or anything like as quick as the Aprilia, but that's not what I bought it for, totally different enjoyment and a brilliant way to build memories with my kids - I'm well chuffed

Occams Razor wrote:Saw loads of these in Italy in the last couple of weeks, not with the sidecar obviously but I think they'd make a great year round commuter.

Yeah the scooter is very nicely built, though they weren't cheap new either - sure it'd be a brilliant commuter... I used to have an FES125 Honda scooter as a commuter, this reminds me of it in some ways though this is obviously more substantial in many ways, and I really enjoyed that